1. Field of the Invention
In one aspect this invention relates to the remote control of vehicles. In a further aspect this invention relates to the control of military vehicles.
2. Prior Art
As the lethality of the modern battlefield increases it has become more and more desirable to send remotely controlled vehicles in place of men. As an example, when it is desired to clear a mine field or other battle ground containing unexploded ordnance, a tank or other heavy military vehicle equipped with a mine plow or similar ordnance detonating device could be moved over the dangerous ground clearing a path for humans without exposing people to the ordnance danger.
The remote control of a moveable item is not new, remote control airplanes being one example. However, such devices are limited in scope in that they require specific controls which must be installed in the item during manufacture and which are dedicated to a particular function. Further the sending controller devices are dedicated and can only provide signals to one type of reception control device. Such devices are not readily reprogrammable to fit a variety of vehicles having varying controls and operating modes. For example the military uses both tracked and wheeled vehicles in its day to day operations with existing radios which should be used if an existing vehicle is to be modified quickly and cheaply to either a slave or command vehicle. The problem is compounded by the fact the military uses both analog and digital radio systems. While the vehicles of a given military unit will all use the same radio, a desirable device should be transferable between units with different type radios.
A further problem is the operating characteristics and controls are markedly different between the various military vehicles and a controller which was dedicated to one type of vehicle would not provide the proper control for the other types of vehicles. It is desirable to have a controller which can be reprogrammed to control the desired vehicle and which will have a corresponding receiver modifiable to control the wide variety of vehicles in the military inventory.